A Look Back, Oct. 9

Published: 10-08-2024 11:01 PM

50 Years Ago

■Work should begin on the foundations of the first building in Northampton’s two-year-old industrial park before the end of the month, according to the president of the firm slated to build the structure. Edward J. O’Leary, president of the E. J. O’Leary Co. of Southampton, acknowledged that the primary reason for the delay in construction of the building was his preoccupation with “12 or 13” other construction projects.

■Efforts are under way to organize a local unit of People vs. Handguns, a Massachusetts citizens group concerned with informing citizens of the dangers posed by handguns and need for strict controls. Organizer of the local unit, Steven Sacks of Amherst, said the ultimate aim of People vs. Handguns is to have legislation passed which bans the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns for everyone except the military and the police.

25 Years Ago

■Northampton will be joining some 350 other communities across the country, including Amherst, for a “Stop the Hate” vigil tonight. Sponsored by groups of lay people who belong to interfaith service councils, the vigil is aimed at reversing what organizers feel is a rising tide of hate crimes.

■The American Automobile Association is set to open a new store in the Village Barn Shops. The store will occupy the most prominent space in the shopping center, which is currently home to an array of small craft and home-furnishing stores.

10 Years Ago

■About 40 people took a 90-minute walk Monday afternoon to help the city plan improvements for the MassCentral Rail Trail extending from Grove Avenue in Leeds. Wayne Feiden, the city’s director of planning and sustainability who led the tour, said Northampton has received a $200,000 grant from the National Park Service to extend the northerly section of trail by one-third of a mile starting at the Grove Avenue access point.

■For a few days last week, the sights and sounds of life during the Civil War filled Look Memorial Park in Florence as members of the 15th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry hosted fellow re-enactors from around New England in a re-staging that the participants called the Battle at the Pines. The original battle — The Battle of Seven Pines, which took place in Virginia — occurred in 1862.